User Reviews

This beer was on cask at my overnight accommodation this week, really glad I choose to stay at 'The Lamb Inn', Iron Acton.

Poured a lovely deep, dark amber, clear, wholesome and smooth looking. One of the whitest of white heads I've ever seen on a bitter, it was only thin, but it stayed and left some lacing as the beer level sank.

I had three pints and loved each one, the hops and barley aroma was slightly sulphurus but not off-putting in any way, it just added to the bitterness that came towards the finish of each mouthful. It is a true flavoursome English Bitter and was the only beer the brewery produced for its first 18 years, they now do three others.

Very moorish, which is why I had three of these and didn't get to try the others, which were also on offer, along with Bass and Courage Bitter (all on cask!).

A: Pours a clear copper color. A one finger white head forms with good retention. Nice sticky lace is left all the way down the glass.
S: A bright and clean citrus burst of hops up front. Grassy, floral, and spicy hops as well. A light sweetness in the finish and balanced everything out nicely.
T: Follows the nose with lots of hops up front. Big citrus flavors and a substantial, but not overbarring bitterness. Floral and grassy. A really interesting spicy flavor rounds out the great hop character here. A sweetness lingers for a great balance. Light fruity apples and pears as well.
M/D: A medium to full body that is really well carbonated. Velvety smooth and creamy. So easy to drink. I can drink this all day. A great session beer.

Another wonderful English Bitter on cask that I have had the opportunity to try in the UK. A big and complex hop flavor that is always in balance. All around excellent, and highly recommend.

This ale poured a brownish gold and was topped by a thick white head that left solid sheets of lace. Slight aroma of what i imagined to be fresh hay fields. Malt dominated taste with subtle hopping. Very drinkable and refreshing, healthy too. Seemed slightly herbal. My second beer I've tried from Butcombe. Had it at my favorite Wetherspoons.

I had this at the Old George in London. This is an excellent bitter with an amber colour and a nice head. The aromas are of dark fruits, juicy hops, and nice, rich malts. The taste is hoppy and malty with both flavors really battling for the nod. The mouthfeel is pretty excellent, as is the drinkability.

On tap at the St Laurent country pub in Jersey. Pours a dark amber colour with a small white frothy head. Aromas of faint malt as well as light fruit. Tastes of roasted malts, some fruits, hops, caramel notes. Aftertaste is medium to light carbonation with a bitter finish. Overall a very good bitter.

Tasted by half-pint at the Swan Tavern, City, London. The strength is at 4.0%abv.

A: amber, great clarity, coming with a foamy thin beer head and very retrained carbonation--looking very healthy for a cask ale.
S: apple-ish fruity hops along with deeply earthy and hay-ish smell of Fuggles-hops, a stream of light maltiness stays underneath--simple, but nice and focused.
T: lovely maltiness with a deeply toffee-ish hint prevails upfront, quite chewy; a profound tea-ish hoppyness joined by a faint trace of leafy bitterness lingers in the long aftertaste, where an intriguingly crisp and bitter finish deep on the sides of the tongue brings a LOT of pleasure and soothness~~
M&D: very fresh, softly carbonated, and medium-bodied; this is the kind of good honest cask bitter which could wake up the taste buds and make them shout for more~~ A session ale for me.

Rusty amber with lumpy white head that clings in piles above the level of the beer. A very typical (and slightly dull) English autumn leaf and toasted nut nose with faint hops bark. Orange peel marmalade on dark toast then wood spice and oil hops. Overripe peach comeback and bitter linger. Medium, clingy, bit of flint.

Properly bitter pint of bitter (35 IBU, if I had to guess.) They don't mention the hop bill, but it's as good a showcase for sturdy English hopping as any (and not the best sample for Maris Otter, though it is 100%.) Good south of England ale.

On the nose its toasted nuts, burnt caramel and biscuits, classic Maris Otter English ale aroma.

When tasted there is a lot more bitter hops than expected, the malts now provide balance and structure. Citrus, grassy hops with grainy toffee malts, some more exotic fruit in the backgroud. Medium body and nice smooth drink.

Colour me underwhelmed by this one. Drank from the cask on tow occasions, once in Dartmoor, and once not far from Evesham.

Rich amber pour with a finger of well-lacing white head. Faint fruit in the nose, with a lot of grainy malt. The flavour is one-dimensional, relying heavily on the aforementioned grainy malts and a heightened tannin bitterness from the hops. A touch of fruit, perhaps, but little else. This makes it passable, but far from perfect. A nice mouthfeel helps to redeem, as the cask has given this an interesting texture, while the low ABV enhances the sessionability. Why would you session it though?